


On The Sly

by mysupernaturalobsessions



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Destiel - Freeform, Established Relationship, M/M, Men of Letters Bunker, Parent-Child Relationship, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-14 01:38:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4545231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysupernaturalobsessions/pseuds/mysupernaturalobsessions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean find Claire on her way to the bunker. The brothers are still hunting, Castiel still comes around, but they've got a teenage boy with them and the situation is about as domestic as a bunch of hunters can get.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On The Sly

Dean and Sam found Claire walking down the road about half a mile from the bunker. They rarely saw people along the road, especially not kids in ratty clothes. At first they were wary, and then they were just concerned. 

She was limping. She was skinny, they could see that even from afar. Her clothes were far too big. And she trudged along at a slow pace. When they pulled up beside her and she turned her head, her cheeks were sunken in, eyes tired. The brothers stared at her. She gave a quickly-aborted half smile.

“Are you going to the bunker?” Sam asked out the passenger window. She nodded. “Get in, then.”

“Okay.” She sounded defeated. The brothers shared a look before they drove on. Dean kept glancing in the rear view mirror, but Claire kept her eyes cast out the window. She left the car silently when they pulled up to the bunker. She limped inside, stopping just inside the door. She kept her eyes downcast. “I need…could I stay here for a few days? Please?”

“Of course, you can stay as long as you want,” Sam said.

Dean led her further inside. “Come on, let’s go sit and you can tell us what’s going on. You hungry?”

She nodded, again. Sam squeezed her shoulder. “I got it.”

Claire and Dean continued deeper into the bunker while Sam turned off down the long, dark hallway that led to the kitchen. Dean tried to imagine the bunker from a child’s perspective. Claire had never seen the place before. Did she find it creepy? Too dark? Not homey enough?

He’d been thinking about that a lot lately, trying to make this place a real home. It was fine enough for Dean and Sam, and Cas who was spending more time there lately. But then Sam found out that Lisa died. He had been keeping tabs on them apparently. And Ben had no where to go. So Cas had given the kid his memories back and he’d been living with them for almost six months now. They got him enrolled in school. Dean wanted him to have a regular life - as regular as it could get living in a hidden lair with three guys who hunted monsters.

He looked at Claire, trying to be discreet about it. She didn’t look nervous, really, she looked curious. 

Dean turned into the make-shift living room - two couches and the biggest television Dean had every owned, okay the only television he had ever owned, but it was still freaking huge - to find that it was already occupied. Cas and Ben were sprawled out on the ground playing Sorry. It was Cas’s favorite.

Claire stopped dead in her tracks. 

The angel looked at ease, smiling lightly. Ben laughed at something he said. The sight settled something inside Dean. It had been a rough start having Ben move in. Cas had helped so much. 

The girl straightened up minutely, seemed to turn to stone right in front of Dean’s eyes. Where she had been soft and bruised and hopeless, she became hard, a soldier. Dean had to admire her self-preservation. 

He watched Claire’s eyes flick between the two other people in the room. She licked her lips. “Who’s the kid?”

“That’s Ben.”

Ben looked up at them then, followed by Cas who looked shocked at first, then worried, and finally settled on cautious. The angel stood up stiffly.

“Hello, Claire.”

She ignored him and turned to Dean. “Is he yours?”

“Yeah,” Dean said, with a small smile. 

“I’m gonna…go help Sam.” She fled the room. 

Cas took a step, reaching like he wanted to stop her or call for her. Dean shook his head. “Just let her go, man. She’ll come around.”

“She didn’t know I was here.” Cas frowned.

“Sorry,” Dean said. “I guess that’s my fault. We should have warned her.”

“She came for your help?”

Dean shrugged. “She looks a little bent outta shape. Said she needed a place to stay.”

“Oh, well, perhaps I should remove myself from the situation. Maybe it will be more comfortable for her to be here.”

“What? No, man. Don’t leave.” Dean’s eyes shot a panicked look at Ben, who was watching the exchange. Cas noticed of course.

“Very well, I will stay. But I will be in the library for the present time.”

“Okay,” Dean exhaled. “Okay.”

Cas left the room, inconspicuously trailing his hand along Dean’s arm as he passed. Dean watched Ben, but he didn’t seem to notice the two men’s interaction. Dean sighed when Cas left and fell down next to Ben. 

“Things here are never quiet are they?”

“I like it,” Ben said. 

“Really?”

“But Cas isn’t gonna leave is he?”

“Nah.” Cas never lied to Ben, at least. Dean took comfort in that. He nudged Ben gently. “Why? Would you miss him?”

“Not as much as you.” 

Ben had a knowing look on his face, just begging Dean to challenge him. Instead, the man just gaped, red-faced and speechless. Dean couldn’t believe how much the kid had grown up, and how much he’d missed, and how much Ben still felt like his own. 

Claire was wandering down the hallways of the bunker when Sam ran into her, several bags of chips in hand and a plate. He approached her cautiously and handed her a sandwich. 

“Hey,” he said. 

She glared at him. “Cas lives here, too?”

“Oh,” Sam said, surprised. He thought they had gotten past everything, for the most part. But maybe not. The girl had lost both her parents after all. “Yeah, uh…yeah. Is that gonna be a problem?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s gonna be pretty awkward watching a guy who looks like my dad suck face with Dean”

Sam laughed. “Smart, kid. Don’t worry, though, they think they’re keeping it a secret or something. They don’t know that everyone already knows.”

“Seriously? That might be worse.”

“If it bothers you, you can always talk to Cas about it. I’m sure they can tone things down. They don’t seem like they’d be big on PDA anyway, and you know, we want you to be comfortable.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Sam wasn’t convinced. “Is that all that was bothering you?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, of course.”

“Okay,” Sam sighed. “Come on, let’s go back. Ben will make us watch something gory, it’ll be great.”

Claire let Sam lead her back to the living room. Dean and Ben looked up at them, mirror images laid out on each couch, and fell quiet when they entered. 

“Wanna pick a movie, Ben?” Sam asked. He felt awkward. He sat unceremoniously on the big arm chair in the corner. The boy nodded and went to the racks by the TV. Dean sat up as Claire moved to sit on the opposite end of his couch with the plate on her lap. He smiled at her. 

“Oh, I guess I haven’t officially introduced you two. Claire, this is Ben. Ben, this is Claire.”

Claire stared at Dean impassively. She chewed slowly although all she wanted to do was devour her food. She could feel her stomach rumbling and it made her angrier. “You already told him who I am, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Dean admitted, looking down and picking at a stray thread in his sweatshirt. Then he met Claire’s eyes. “Hunter-in-training. Family dragged you into the supernatural and all that.”

“Father was an angel,” she scoffed. Dean’s eyes bugged. 

Ben, who was setting up the television, whipped his head back. “Whoa, your Dad was an angel?”

Claire looked at Dean, surprised and accusing. Dean dropped his eyes again. “Figure of speech, Ben.”

“Oh.”

Sam laughed just to break the tension. “You’re just like Cas.”

Claire settled back in her seat. “Where is Cas?”

“He’s uh…he’s researching some…”

“He left because of me didn’t he?”

Ben sat back on the second couch. “Yes.”

“Ben!” Sam and Dean scolded at once.

“What? Now she knows,” he said. He looked at Claire. “Can I go get him? He’s never seen this one.”

Claire squinted at him for a second and then shrugged. “Whatever.” Ben scampered off. She waited until he left the room to start asking questions. “So what’s the story with him? He’s not really yours is he?”

“As good as,” Dean muttered.

Sam sighed. “His mom died, never knew his real dad. He’s been living with us six months. He’s got no where else to go.”

“Does he know you hunt?” Claire demanded. “What the hell does he think this place is?”

“He knows, okay,” Dean said. “But he’s just in high school. He knows what he needs to know. Cas…they get along really well. He was the only one Ben would talk to at first. I didn’t want to jeopardize that.”

Claire was glaring again. “I can’t believe how much you ask of him.”

“I’m just trying to give him a childhood.”

“Not, Ben,” Claire spat. “I meant Cas. What? You want him to be a Dad to your non-kid kid, and the guy that you’re sleeping with on the sly, and on top of all that he has to deny who he actually is? That’s fucked up. Even for you guys, and I know you do a lot of fucked up stuff.”

The brothers stared at her for a moment, startled when the rest of their little party returned. Cas and Ben looked at the three silent people in front of them. Cas squinted at Dean, who was looking up at him with guilt written all over his face. Finally it was too much for Dean, he looked away and buried his face in his hands.

Ben didn’t seem to notice. He started the movie. “Cas, you’re gonna love this.”

He turned back to the boy and smiled. “I’m sure it will be very enlightening, Ben.”

They seemed to be the only ones who watched the thing anyway. Claire spent most of her time glaring at the screen without seeing it. She kept shooting glances at the pair on the other couch. Cas met her eyes once, and smiled at her carefully, but she just rolled her eyes and turned away.

Ben kept grabbing Cas’s arm and pointing, claiming his attention. Claire thought it was completely childish. She was a little relieved when the movie ended. She was getting sick of watching them. But then Ben started putting in another, the sequel or prequel or something which was completely unnecessary since the first one sucked so bad.

Dean had spent most of the movie looking at the ground, lost in thought. He seemed surprised when the movie was over. He cleared his throat while Ben was tinkering the DVD player. He leaned toward the other couch. 

“Uh, Cas?” Dean rubbed the back of his neck. He was trying to be quiet, but no one else was talking so it didn’t help much.

“Yes, Dean?”

Abort. Abort. Wow, he was such a coward. He swallowed and tried to get the words out. “I just wanted to say that, uh…uh, never mind.” He licked his lips. “We can talk about it later.”

Cas squinted at him. Dean sighed. He tried to mouth a silent thank you to the angel, but Cas either didn’t know what he was doing or couldn’t tell what he had said. 

“What?”

A loud sigh sounded beside him. “He’s in love with you. And he feels like a jackass for all the time he’s spent pretending that’s not true,” Claire said. 

Dean turned bright red, but didn’t deny anything. Ben was nodding seriously. Cas looked around the room, completely lost. “They all knew.”

“I guess so,” Dean shrugged.

“And you’re okay with that?”

Dean reached forward and took the angel’s hand. “I’m sorry if I made it seem like I wasn’t, Cas. There was just so much change happening. And I need you and I guess I thought if this was just between us maybe I wouldn’t fuck it up so quickly.”

“I know,” Cas said quietly, amending when Dean quirked an eyebrow. “I mean, I thought I would do something…wrong. It’s less pressure when it’s just us.” He flicked his eyes toward Ben, so quickly that he thought no one besides Dean noticed. But Claire did. She was everything. “I didn’t think it was possible but there is even more to lose.”

Dean nodded, understanding immediately what Castiel meant. He smiled and Cas melted. “Who knew having a little piece of the apple pie life could be so scary, huh?”

Claire slipped out of the room while the two men were making googly eyes at each other. She had seen more than enough and she was tired. She went back to the kitchen hallway and found a clean, empty bedroom halfway down the hall. She fell asleep on top if it in minutes.

In the morning the room was dark and cold and at first Claire didn’t remember where she was. She had spent so many nights recently in strange places and on the streets. She closed her eyes tighter, thinking she was alone in the world like she usually was. And then she remembered.

The knowledge that Dean and Sam and even Cas were out there made her feel warmer instantly. She felt safe. She stood up, straightened out the bed from where she had kicked it in her sleep, and went outside. She felt a little guilty for how she had acted - outing Dean like that when he had taken her in no questions asked. 

She went to the kitchen, intent to apologize to all of them. But she stopped in the doorway. 

Dean, Sam, and Ben were at the table. Cas was standing, halfway to the fridge. He came back with maple syrup and stopped at the stove to plate two thick pancakes. He passed it over to Ben, along with the syrup. 

Claire waited. She should go back to her room, she knew. She could feel the anger bubbling up in her and she knew it was irrational, but she couldn’t make her feet move. She was mad. She felt like that a lot lately. And even when it was irrational, it was how she felt, and she couldn’t rationalize it away. 

Dean looked up at her first. He seemed to see something off in her expression. “Hey, Claire, you want some breakfast?”

Cas looked up, just like he had yesterday. It made her throat go a little dry. She had stopped seeing Cas as her father, Jimmy, a long time ago. He looked so different, especially to her. 

She shook her head. She stared right at Cas. “You made him pancakes, too? What are you doing here, Castiel? Playing house?” 

Cas squinted. “Dean makes the pancakes.”

Claire felt tears welling up in her eyes. She blinked, once, hoping to dispel them. But then she turned away and ran out of the room. She heard chairs scraping behind her. 

“Claire, wait!” Dean called. She didn’t.

“I will go speak with her now,” Cas said. Claire spun on her heel in the hallway. Cas was with her quickly. She pushed him back, one strong shove to the chest. 

“Stay. Away. From. Me.”

“Please,” Cas whispered. “Just tell me what is wrong? What did I do wrong? I will rectify it if I can.”

“Yeah, well, you can’t.”

“Sam told me what you said. About Jimmy. About Dean and I.”

“Of course he did,” Claire rolled her eyes.

“It is reasonable that this would make you uncomfortable.”

“I doesn’t make me uncomfortable,” she spat. Then her voice got quieter. “It’s not that. Dean deserves to be happy, and so do you. You’ve been through enough.”

Cas stared at her in that way she was almost getting used to - too deep and earnest. She stared back. “Then what is it?”

She sighed. She glanced toward the kitchen and lowered her voice even further. If Ben was anything like Dean he’d be trying to listen in. “Human emotions? You got those down yet?”

Castiel smiled fleetingly. “I believe I have improved the more intimately I become connected to Dean.”

“Okay…well…It’s like, I know you’re not my dad, right? You’re not a dad at all, you’re an angel. But you’re kind of okay and you take care of me and you protected me and…”

“And?” Cas prompted.

“And I wanted you to act like a dad,” she said. “But you couldn’t. So I’ve been telling myself it’s because it’s just not who you are. And then I came here.”

She started tearing up again and paused to reign it in. Cas watched her silently, his eyes sad. 

“And met Ben.”

Claire nodded through her tears. “And I thought if you were going to be a dad, anyway, then why the hell couldn’t you have been mine?”

“Oh, Claire.” He hesitated, his arms half-up to hug her. She groaned in frustration and threw herself into his embrace. Cas pulled her closer and tightened his hold, her head pressed against his chest while she sobbed. “I am sorry.”

She reclaimed her breathing enough to speak. “I know.”

Later, when Claire started to feel uncomfortable with the length of their hug, but Cas didn’t seem to notice, he spoke again above her head. “I would very much appreciate a second chance.”

She sniffled and pulled back. “I don’t know, Cas. I’m going to be heading out in a few days.”

“You must stay here.”

“I can’t…”

“Why, not? You are my family.”

She wanted so desperately to believe him. “But Dean won’t…”

“Come on,” Cas insisted. “Let’s ask him.”

They walked back to the kitchen side by side. Claire rubbed at her tear-streaked face. Dean and Ben were standing at the sink, cleaning up from breakfast. Dean was speaking loudly, trying to drown out other noise. When he saw they were back he quieted right down. 

“Oh, hey, guys.”

Cas looked determined as he walked straight to Dean. “I would very much appreciate if Claire could stay with us indefinitely. She is my family and I…need to make up for lost time, I believe.”

Dean smiled widely, the most pleasant expression Claire had ever seen on the guy. “Of course, Cas. You take such good care of my kid. I wanna do the same for yours.”

Cas turned back to smile at Claire, who blushed and looked down at her shoes. When he turned back to Dean the man captured his face between his hands and kissed him. They pulled back barely an inch and smiled at each other. Dean wrapped his arms around Castiel’s waist, keeping him close. 

“Ew,” Ben complained. “If you’re going to be all gooey you can do the dishes yourselves.”

Dean didn’t turn his head away to respond. “Yeah, fine, scram. Go show Claire around the bunker. Cas made up the room across from yours.” He leaned in to peck at Cas’s lips again, a mischievous glint in his eye. “He said he was nesting. It was adorable.”

“An angel nesting,” Claire scoffed, despite a blush rising on her cheeks. “How fitting.”

“Wait,” Ben said. “Angel?”

Dean and Cas both turned to glare at her. “Claire!”

“Sorry!”


End file.
